Rickshaw registration bid by civic bodies finds few takers

Ever felt a chill down your spine while taking a rickshaw from the Metro station down a deserted road? The corporations have been trying to provide a solution to that but it is not working. Ritam Halder reports.

Ever felt a chill down your spine while taking a rickshaw from the Metro station down a deserted road? The corporations have been trying to provide a solution to that but it is not working.

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The three civic bodies of the Capital had started registration of rickshaw-pullers along with their cycle rickshaws, with all the requisite data, photo ID and fingerprint records, a couple of months back.

However, this move, initiated after a court order, has found very few takers as only a handful have come forward for registration, which entails a nominal fee of Rs 150 for three years.

The drive, which was initiated by the end of February and was supposed to continue till June 30 in all three corporations, has failed to attract the rickshaw-pullers.

“It would have helped in regularising the sector. A record of the pullers would have also boosted the law and order situation as all of them would have had photo ID and fingerprint record in the municipal database,” said east civic body standing committee chairperson Sanjay Surjan.

There are over 6 lakh cycle rickshaws operating in the Capital. North Delhi Municipal Corporation commissioner PK Gupta said that the civic body will take necessary action to register all rickshaw-pullers and their vehicles.

“We will set up camps to conduct on-the-spot registration for them,” Gupta told Hindustan Times.